Timber considerations for spars in Switzerland

[Redeye]

I'm about to attempt to build my first birdsmouth spar, well, my first spar at all actually.

I have a few questions regarding the wood which, if I may, I would like to submit here for the collective knowledge to comment upon.

Firstly, slash or rift sawn? Do I want the grain running as it would in a tree, or is it better to use it from radially/quarter sawn staves? To me it seems slash sawn would be more like the natural tree form. But I'm aware that in general quarter sawn timber is far preferable for most things.

Secondly, species.
The plans suggest alternating Cedar and Poplar staves. Wall thickness of approx. 10mm and diameter approx. 63mm (mast length about 6m for a lightweight skiff).

I'm building this in Switzerland and so far have had a hell of a job finding wood in general. I know that Spruce, specifically Stika, is the gold standard. Mostly however, it seems the only thing one can find easily ie, general hardware store lumber, is sold as "Fichte/Tanne" which are generically Spruce and Fir respectively. All of the easily available timber is labelled with both names as it's almost impossible to tell apart easily, which doesn't really help at all.

Short of mail ordering Oregon, or Stika, (or Poplar and Cedar) which I am loathe to do as I find having someone else select my timber to be generally a disaster, does anyone have any contacts or ideas on ways to get suitable timber for the spars?

In addition, how does Larch work for spars? Generally crap or ok?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

R

[Songololo]

There are a number of sawmills and timber merchants (for imported wood types) in Switzerland. I bought the imported Douglas Fir for my Wee Rob canoe project from the Hüsler Sägewerk in Ruswil (http://www.huesler-holz.ch/).

The tight grained DF is being used for all structural elements in the canoe including the spars - the locally grown DF has a low ring count and that is why I opted for the imported (USA?) DF. They also stock other wood types including Sitka Spruce. For an additional fee they will also cut and plane the timber that you have purchased.

Küchler AG (http://www.kuechler.ch/), just outside Zürich, is where I bought my plywood. They also stock locally grown and imported timber - not sure if they will cut/plane for you.

Lance

[Redeye]

You're a lifesaver, Songololo.

That's twice now you've directed me to good places :)

Cheers

[bennieboat]

R,

"fichte" can be outstanding timber
now you have found a supplier, check their European spruce

usually generic spruce/pine/fir is not something to use on a boat,

but some is even imported to the US:
http://forum.woodenboat.com/showpost.php?p=2537531&postcount=10

and old growth spruce from 'die Schweiz' has a mythical reputation:
http://www.af.nl/voorraad/massief/fichte/

you might like it for your birds mouth mast

Ben

[jgmarine]

Hi,
You might contact Portier Boat Yard, in Meilen? Switzerland....they should have a source?
They restore and build beutiful wood boats.

Jack

[luckystrike118]

Hello Redeye,

habe keine Angst davor, Fichte für den Mastenbau zu verwenden. Gerade die hochgelegenen (Berg) Fichtenwälder liefern ein sehr langfaseriges, elastisches und leichtes Holz, dass hervorragend geeignet ist.

Aber Du must auf die beste Qualität achten und das Holz selber aussuchen. Eine regionale Sägemühle oder ein Holzhändler sollte so etwas vorrätig haben. Baumarktqualität reicht da natürlich nicht aus, weil das Baumarktholz (Fichte/Tanne) aus schnellwachsenden Plantagen kommt.

Nutze abgelagertes, trockenes Holz mit stehenden Jahresringen für den Mastenau. Es lässt sich leichter hobeln und ist dimensionsstabiler, so gibt es weniger Spannungen im Holz nach der Verleimung, wenn das Holz noch ein bisschen arbeitet.

Viele Grüße von der Nordseeküste, Michel

Achte auf einen langsamen Wuchs mit sehr dünnen Jahreringen, auf eine gleichmäßige, nicht verworfene Maserung und auf Astfreiheit.

Wir denken oft, dass gerade die amerikanischen Wälder die besten Bootsbauhölzer hervorbringen (Gouglas Fir, Western Red Cedar)), aber das stimmt nicht ausschließlich. Das liegt vor allem daran, dass wir sehr viel amerikanische Bücher lesen und die Bootbauer dort eben regionales Holz verwenden. Darum vergessen wir oft, dass wir selber sehr gute Hölzer in unseren Wäldern stehen haben.